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DEEP PURPLE Bassist Talks About Working With Producer BOB EZRIN

DEEP PURPLE‘s first new studio set since 2005, called “Now What?!”, sold 4,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 115 on The Billboard 200 chart. Bob Ezrin, who is best known for his work with PINK FLOYD (“The Wall”, “Momentary Lapse Of Reason” and “The Division Bell”), PETER GABRIEL (“Peter Gabriel”), KISS (“Destroyer”, “Music From ‘The Elder'”), AEROSMITH (“Get Your Wings”), LOU REED (“Berlin”), and ALICE COOPER (“School’s Out”, “Billion Dollar Babies”, “Welcome To My Nightmare”), among others, was behind the boards for the new set.

Bassist Roger Glover told The Pulse Of Radio that he was more than happy to enlist outside help for the band’s latest album. “Very early on, we produced ourselves,” he said. “All the (albums) ‘Machine Head’ and ‘Deep Purple In Rock’, we all produced them ourselves. ‘Cause we felt we didn’t need anyone to tell us what to do. I produced the band a few times myself, and it’s not an easy task — being in the band and producing it. So I’d actually much rather have someone else doing it, if that’s the case. And I think no one really wants to bother with anything else other than making the music. So, someone else has to be in charge somehow.”

Glover explained that the band connected immediately with Ezrin, who was blown over by the band’s musicality and power onstage. “Bob Ezrin is someone who’s much more than someone in charge,” he said. “He comes with a track record that’s gi-normous and I have a lot of respect for him. I, y’know, love some of his productions — before I even knew him. When he came to the show — he came to see us in Toronto and we had a meeting the next day and he was actually surprised, I think, at what we were. He wanted to capture the feeling that he had that night in the studio, somehow.”

The current lineup of DEEP PURPLE is: Ian Gillian on vocals, Roger Glover on bass, Ian Paice on drums, Steve Morse on guitar, and Don Airey on keyboards.

DEEP PURPLE will next perform on July 19 at Montreux, Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival.